Keeping Pace, Part 3: 650-700hp 5.9L Common-Rail

How To Affordably Make Your ’03-’07 Dodge Run With The Rest Of The Pack

As the 5.9L third-gens continue to age, more and more folks with tighter performance budgets are buying them. But in an era where the words ‘big horsepower’ and ‘daily driver’ go hand-in-hand, you’re going to need more than a 500hp-capable tune to keep up with the Joneses. We’ve seen a boatload of ways to get 700 hp out of the ’03-‘07 Cummins platform over the years, and like many horsepower recipes, there is always more than one way to skin a cat. However, the proper path to 650-700 hp is one that keeps your rods in the block, your coolant from boiling, EGT in check, and your transmission from failing.

Going off on a few tangents as possible, we’ll show you the best path(s) to building a 650 to 700 hp common-rail 5.9L this month. Sure the right injector, CP3, turbo(s), and tuning can get you there quickly, but the correct supporting mods shouldn’t be neglected, either. We’ll go over all of that and more this time, and we’ll also touch on the fact that while the ’04.5-’07 model years often appear to be the preferred model years, the ’03-’04 5.9L’s can be made just as potent. Work or play, the following parts recommendations will help your third-gen keep pace with most street-driven diesel you encounter.